Ride with an iPod?

[Plus_P]

If you've added some background tunes in your helmet before: Did it enhance or detract from your ride? I don't think I'd want it all the time, but for the less eventful highway miles, I think I'd like it. What's your experience?
+P / Wade

[Aprilian]

I have tinitus, and always wear plugs or in-ear monitors.  Without tunes on low, all I hear is the static (which is louder than the wind noise).  I listen to music and news in my car, so why shouldn't I on the bike?

[Greg]

I don't commute on my bike, so pretty much every time I ride it's for an entire day. I always have my iPod as well as a backup Apple Shuffle if the iPod quits on me. (how's that for being obseseve compulsive  )

10 years ago there was a pretty healthy debate going on back and forth as to the merits for and against having music while riding. IMO things have settled down pretty much to personal preference.
There are so many riders that do ride with music now (at STAR last year, I'd guesstimate 40-50% were riding with music) that there really isn't any judging going on over the subject. It's just up to personal preference.
Funny thing ... for me it does really fade into the back of my mind when I'm hitting the twisties hard. Sometimes I'll  play a little game with myself and try to remember the song just before the current one playing. Often times I can't ....hehe

Having said that ...... ripping up HWY 14 in Arkansas with Back in Black busting my eardrums is close to nirvana. Lock up your daughters .....


Greg

[Jvs]

I like turning on Pandora on my phone, putting in my noise cancelling buds and goin for a cruise. It's only distracting when your looking down to change songs every few minutes. Atleast for me personally I find that riding is mainly visual and by having noise cancelling ear buds you are cutting down on harmful wind noise. The LEO that pulls you over for having 2 ear buds in and gives you a side of the road lecture about em might say otherwise though.

[Joel S]

Lol, funny stuff guys. I am a tunes guy, have a remote on my clutch cover for simple functions and it works great. I have some high end custom fit monitors that block wind and never regretted them (well except for the day my wife saw the receipt but that was a second or two.lol)
One guy never has music anywhere, heck I ware headphones on my jetski, tunes everywhere for me please. 

[Ray916MN]

Tunes most of the time for me. Either from a dedicated MP3 player or the MP3 player built into my GPS unit.

Use to just wear ear plugs all the time, but have grown to love a ride soundtrack. There is something about it which often pulls everything together for a ride, the same way a good soundtrack weaves a thread through a movie.

[Chris]

I am tunes some times, I run them through my Scala rider, so I can where ear plugs as well.

[carlson_mn]

Almost always have my ipod and my in-ear phones that have the 'ipod controller' that dangles below the left ear.  With that I can pause/play, adjust volume, and go forward/back on tracks.  It dangles pefectly between jacket collar and helmet and I adjust with my left hand.  The ability to pause music and just listen to the bike is nice without looking down or digging into your media player. 

I only started riding with music in the last couple years and I find it reduces my mental fatigue and I seem to feel better / more alert on the bike during a long ride.  Having said that sometimes I just put nice ear plugs in and that is nice too.

[tk]

Noboby loves music more than I do. I don't listen to music when I ride though.
I just use very quiet earplugs.

I listen to music im my car, even AC-DC.

[Tumbler]

I have a Scala Rider that I listen to the radio presets but also have ear plugs in when I ride to protect my hearing over time.

This works well when commuting in the TC area but once in the sticks it can be hard to find a radio station so I usually turn off the tunes once I loose the presets.

I'd like to listen to my Ipod while riding but have found that hooking it up via the cord yields a lower volume that is pointless to listen to at speed & I haven't found a way around that.

So it's a 50/50 mix of listening to music for me.  If I get to upgrade to the newest version of the Scala Rider maybe I'd listen more often but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon.

If anyone knows of an interim solution for me I'm all ears.  I had hoped to maybe use the Ipod thru Bluetooth but haven't gotten that to work either.

[carlson_mn]

Mark, a good set of in- ear phones should do the trick and provide ear protection as well, though not quite as well as ear plugs. I don't have to turn mine up too loud either.

[Tumbler]

I've tried that option Matt but don't like having to mess with adjusting them.

Maybe I should try some different ear buds but have tried several types without a winner so far.

With the Scala Rider I have built in speakers that work great with my ear plugs in.

[Jvs]

The one thing I don't like about the scalas is the sound quality. If you even want to hear the music or calls you have to jack the sound way up. Wish they came with a aux headphone port so you could choose between speakers or headphones so we could just hook in noise canceling buds

[nOOky]

I have gone back to just ear plugs the past few years. Even music I love gets tiring after hours of listening. I prefer quiet over trying to drow nout the wind etc. by cranking the volume too much.

[Hope2Ride]

I've tried that option Matt but don't like having to mess with adjusting them.

Maybe I should try some different ear buds but have tried several types without a winner so far.

With the Scala Rider I have built in speakers that work great with my ear plugs in.

You're being too picky. I've tried many, many types of headphones and you're not going to find a pair that feels great with a helmet but there are certainly some that are better than others. Since I got the new Scala Rider this winter I have only used it connected to my IPod a few times and even on the new one the sound quality sucks.

I always have my IPod with me when riding. The music helps me relax and doesnt distract me. It's especially great riding 2up, when the ride gets more "spirited" I enjoy having the music on, it keeps me from thinking about what can happen and just enjoying the ride instead. But if I'm out on an all day ride it's nice to turn it off occasionally and just have the silence too. Plus listening to the same stuff gets old after a while. There are times I worry that I may not hear sirens or a horn so I usually keep the volume up high enough to hear the music well through the wind but low enough to hear an outside noise such as a siren.